This new ombudsman is pretty solid. I really liked the previous one. Their insights seemed quite a bit more interesting. This guy criticizes, but it doesn't make me feel that passionately about his causes.

Before Mike Leach was fired, [assistant coach Lincoln] Riley wrote a critical letter to the administration which included negative comments regarding Adam James' character. He told me the letter was intended … to simply shed light on the situation.

Sometimes you miss the joke until you read the quote later.

"Good evening, and welcome to Michigan Stadium for this the one-hundred thirty-second season of Michigan football, and the thirty-ninth meeting between Michigan and Notre Dame." -Carl Grapentine, September 10, 2011

When the production crew focused on the game, the broadcast was fine -- engaging pictures, excellent graphics, relevant replays, and interesting information and insights rendered by the broadcasters. However, when the telecast was bifurcated with the video from the field and announcers commenting on the dispute and covering the game at the same time, the result was dreadful.

Herein lies my biggest beef with ESPN in general: the fact that they just CANNOT seem to focus on a game without unnecessarily shoving drama down our throats, whether it be discussion by the announcers or endless repeats of text on the Bottom Line. A college football game is plenty entertaining all by itself. In the case of the Alamo Bowl, all that was required of the Leach situation was a one-time mention, along the lines of "Interim coach Ruffin McNeill leads Tx Tech today, following the well-publicized and controversial dismissal of Mike Leach." Then move on and broadcast the damned game.